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Going round in a circuit; roundabout; indirect; as, a circuitous road; a circuitous manner of accompalishing an end. -- Cir*cu"i*tous*ly, adv. -- Cir*cu"i*tous*ness, n.

In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; as, a mile about, and a third of a mile across.

A circuit; a winding. Hence: Circuitous way or proceeding; quibble; circumlocution; indirect mode of speech. After many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is. Burton.

Circumlocutory; circuitous. [R.]

arch by various means or ways. Addison. -- To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously. -- To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag. -- To beat up for recruits, to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise.…

To move in a circle or circuitously; to move round and return to the same point; as, the blood circulates in the body. Boyle.

Pertaining to the circumference; encompassing; encircling; circuitous. Parkhurst.

Moving or turning round; circuitous. [R.] Swift.

Relating to, or consisting of, circumlocutions; periphrastic; circuitous.

A passing round; circuit; circuitous course. They fetched a compass of seven day's journey. 2 Kings iii. 9. This day I breathed first; time is come round, And where I did begin, there shall I end; My life is run his compass. Shak.

ersome contrivance or machine. He holds them in utter contempt, as lumbering, cumbersome, circuitous. I. Taylor. -- Cum"ber*some*ly, adv. -- Cum"ber*some*ness,n.

e established rates. -- A short cut, a cross route which shortens the way and cuts off a circuitous passage. -- The cut of one's jib, the general appearance of a person. [Colloq.] -- To draw cuts, to draw lots, as of paper, etc., cut unequal lengths. Now draweth cut . . . The which that hath the shortest shall begin.…

A turning; a circuitous route; a deviation from a direct course; as, the detours of the Mississippi.

Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end; as, a direct line; direct means. What is direct to, what slides by, the question. Locke.

The process of fertilization in plants by an indirect or circuitous method; -- opposed to orthogamy.

Not direct; not straight or rectilinear; deviating from a direct line or course; circuitous; as, an indirect road.

Rotatory; circuitous. [R.]

Circuitous; going round; indirect; as, roundabout speech. We have taken a terrible roundabout road. Burke.

The quality of being roundabout; circuitousness.

A going round; a circuit; hence, a journey in a circuit; a prolonged circuitous journey; a comprehensive excursion; as, the tour of Europe; the tour of France or England. The bird of Jove stooped from his airy tour. Milton.